LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, Oct 28: Akshata Murty, daughter of Infosys founder Narayana Murty and having a reported £700 million pounds stake in her father’s company, has become the first lady of the United Kingdom with her husband’s elevation to the post of UK Prime Minister.
Akshata Murty, who is a British-based Indian citizen, is a fashion designer and director of Digme Fitness and owns shares in Wendy’s India and Jamie Oliver restaurants, as reported by Business Insider.
Born in India in 1980, most of her young age was spent with her paternal grandparents. Akshata and brother Rohan lived without TV and spent their time reading and spending time with real people. She is a fashion designer, venture capitalist and entrepreneur.
Murty, non-domiciled in the UK, came under the spotlight after her husband Rishi Sunak, now the PM of UK, began his campaign. Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty’s combined net worth is £730 million, which is reportedly more than the head of the British monarchy King Charles III, reports Business Insider.
Akshata Murty attended high school in Bangalore and studied at Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles. She also has a Masters degree in business administration from Stanford University. This is where she met Sunak and got married to him in Bangalore in 2009. The couple have two daughters Anoushka and Krishna.
“When I met him we were 24 year old business school students, living in another country, and had no idea of where life would take us,” she tweeted in April.
The shadow of her father’s company Infosys became heavier on her when it was reported earlier this year that the Indian IT company was still operating in Russia during the Ukraine war, despite counter claims by the company.
Akshata Murty denied having any stake in the operations of the company, clarifying her position with Sky News. Another controversy which clouded the Sunak campaign was her status as a non-domiciled resident in the UK, which BBC reported gave her a way to evade £2.2 million in UK taxes. A non-domiciled is a resident citizen who has her permanent home in another country, in this case, India.
“My decision to pay UK tax on all my worldwide income will not change the fact that India remains the country of my birth, citizenship, parents’ home and place of domicile. But I love the UK too,” Murty tweeted in April.
As the law states, Murty as a non-domiciled citizen in the UK is not required to pay taxes on her overseas earnings, which came to £11.6 million she got as a dividend from her father’s company last year.
Post an inquiry, Akshata agreed to pay her due taxes. She additionally pays £30,000 per year to maintain her non-domiciled status, BBC reported.
“It has become clear that many do not feel it is compatible with my husband’s role as chancellor. I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family,” she said.
Murty had previously started her own design label called Akshata Designs, which closed down in 2012. The next year, she became director of the family-owned venture capital firm called Catamaran Ventures, which invested in British luxury furniture The New Craftsmen and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technology Corporation.
She is also director at London-based Digme Fitness which is currently valued at £7.2 million. Murty also owns shares in two of famed British cook and entrepreneur Jamie Oliver restaurants, Wendy’s in India and in fitness brand Digme Fitness, according to Economic Times.
Rishi, in a BBC news podcast, defending the smear campaign against his family, especially his wife, said, “I think it’s totally fine for people to take shots at me. It’s fair game. I’m the one sitting here and that’s what I signed up for.”
“But I feel, on reflection, both Will Smith and me having our wives attacked – at least I didn’t get up and slap anybody, which is good,” he added.
Rishi Sunak, until recently was the chancellor to the exchequer, residing in 11 Downing Street. He resigned in July and the family shifted to a house in West London.
The couple reportedly also own a manor house in Kirby Sigston, a mews house in Central London, a penthouse apartment in Santa Monica and a flat on Old Brompton Road. They would soon be moving to 10 Downing Street.
